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Court of Appeals holds right to bear arms does not include switchblades

Guadalupe Murillo used a switchblade knife to stab two customers at the Wal-Mart store where he worked in Clovis, New Mexico. He got one of them in the neck, and the attack left significant bloodshed in the grocery aisle where it happened.

Court of Appeals holds right to bear arms does not include switchblades

Guadalupe Murillo used a switchblade knife to stab two customers at the Wal-Mart store where he worked in Clovis, New Mexico. He got one of them in the neck, and the attack left significant bloodshed in the grocery aisle where it happened.

Murillo was tried and convicted of, among other things, the unlawful possession of a switchblade knife. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

On appeal, Murillo asked the court to overturn the illegal switchblade conviction because the New Mexico Constitution allows citizens to keep and bear arms for security and defense.

The Court of Appeals ruled that the prohibition against switchblades did not violate Murillo’s constitutional right to bear arms, and Murillo’s conviction was upheld.

According to the court, the switchblade ban is only a modest infringement on your right to keep and bear arms. After all, the court reasoned, handguns are the quintessential self-defense weapon for Americans. Switchblades are not designed for uses that form the core of the right to keep and bear arms — the defense of hearth and home. They are more readily concealable, specifically designed for quick use in a knife fight, and more suitable for criminal use.

In order to overturn his conviction, Murillo had to show that the ban on switchblades was not substantially related to an important government purpose.

The prosecution argued that the important governmental purpose in banning switchblades knives is to protect the public in New Mexico from the danger of potentially-lethal surprise attacks posed by switchblade knives.

The court agreed and held that since switchblade knives are designed for the quick use in a knife fight and are almost exclusively the weapon of the thug and the delinquent, their ban is constitutional.

Based on the inherent criminal nature of the switchblade knife, the court reasoned that your constitutional right to keep and bear arms can be infringed upon because the ban on switchblades is substantially related to protecting the public from the danger of potentially-lethal surprise attacks.

By the way, it’s also against the law to manufacture, cause to be manufactured, display, offer, sell, lend, give away or purchase a switchblade in New Mexico.

If you’re not sure if your knife is a switchblade, the statute defines it as any knife with a blade that opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in the handle of the knife, or any knife having a blade which opens or falls or is ejected into position by the force of gravity or by any outward or centrifugal thrust or movement.